


Family Stories

by Silex



Category: Where Are You Now Patty - Lenny Green (Song)
Genre: Bigfoot - Freeform, F/F, Family, POV Nonhuman, Slice of Life, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21893098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silex/pseuds/Silex
Summary: Patty, the Bigfoot from the famous Patterson–Gimlin film, is only known from that one small glimpse into her life, a rich and wonderful life that we know nothing of. So much is left to the imagination, but imagining the life of such a lovely being is far from a difficult task. Beautiful and adventurous, it's certain that she has a family, and in the video she carries herself like royalty so it's safe to assume that, if not then, in time she became the matriarch of that stretch of wilderness and so much more.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Family Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetcarolanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/gifts).



“Mother,” Thuna protested gently, “Please don’t tell such scary stories, you’ll give little Kiffan such ideas.”

“There’s nothing wrong with giving a little boy ideas,” Mirrith, Thuna’s mother laughed, picking up Kiffan and letting him sit on her shoulders even though her grandson was old enough that he preferred to walk on his own now.

Usually he would dash ahead of Thuna and Sanal, just to see what was around the next bend in the trail or to investigate some interesting sight or sound. He was quite the handful, keeping his two mothers busy near constantly with his questions and desire for adventure. For that reason Thuna had been so happy when her mother came by to visit.

“How do you do that?” Sanal marveled when Kiffan immediately quieted down, gripping the silvery fur of Mirrith’s shoulders.

“Your mate isn’t my only daughter,” Mirrith smiled, deep brown eyes sparkling with laughter, “And I’ve had sons as well. There’s no secret other than that children love their grandmothers.”

Thuna huffed softly, having heard that very same explanation from her mother countless times before.

Sanal on the other hand was clearly smitten with Mirrith, something that Thuna could understand. She was used to her mother’s ways, her quick and easy smile, but Sanal was new to the territory and had only met the old matriarch a few times and each time learned something new about either her or the lands she claimed as her own.

It also helped that despite being lean and wiry with age, Mirrith was still an imposing figure. Tall and elegant, her sable fur frosted silver with age, she was truly the ruler of all she surveyed and her claim was large enough that in her old age she traveled nearly as much as any young male.

And the stories she brought back with her, stories that were undoubtedly the reason Kiffan was sitting so still and quiet.

Every time she came by or they visited her Mirrith had a story, new or old. Sanal had laughed at stories of Thuna’s youth, her adventures and misadventures and her sisters and brothers. Thuna listened patiently, even if they were stories she’d heard countless times because Sanal’s joy made them new again. Passing on stories of history and family was important, strengthening the bonds between the generations.

It was a duty that delighted the matriarch, and one she took gravely seriously.

Thuna was similarly serious about this trip they were making, though Mirrith had said with confidence that no males roamed in this stretch of territory for some reason.

The twinkle in her mother’s eye, the way her face creased with a smile, and Thuna knew exactly why. This was her mother’s favorite place and no male would dare intrude.

Which wasn’t to say that there weren’t other intruders.

Frequent intruders Thuna thought with a frown as her mother departed from the usual thin trails they followed and cut through the brush to one of the wide ways.

Usually only imprudent males would walk on the trails blazed by the strange others, but Mirrith had reached the age where such things could be ignored. No one would dare tell her otherwise and she found joy in it.

Especially because it made both Thuna’s young mate Sanal and their son Kiffan draw awed breaths at her boldness.

“This way again?” Thuna said quietly, a humble sort of bragging to her mate that she was as bold as her mother the matriarch.

“This was your favorite as a child,” Mirrith whispered back, taking appropriate caution given the very real possibility that they might not be alone.

It had been her favorite place to go as a little girl. Back then the rare visits to this specific way had sent a thrill of delightful fear through her. The chance to see the strange tracks and even stranger things left behind wasn’t something that she ever would have turned down.

Now her mate and son were getting the chance to experience the same.

“Look here,” Mirrith bent down to point at something on the ground.

Kiffan let out a surprised squeak and Sanal hurried over to crouch down and investigate what had caused such a reaction.

Thuna stood back, listening carefully for danger, not that hearing the approach of the strangers was any challenge. They talked and yelled and sang as they went, as normal people would, but sometimes they rode great crashing things like thick legged cow moose, other times they flew by like the wind on things that roared and left lines in the dirt like straight snake trails.

“What is it?” Kiffan said, his little voice barely a squeak as he tried to keep quiet like the adults.

“I don’t know,” Sanal said, her fingers moving slowly, just above the ground as she traced the outline of something.

From the deep woods, Sanal rarely saw sign of the strange ones and had never been near a wide way. Anything there would be new to her.

“The strange ones ride the creatures that make these tracks,” Mirrith said with the kind of authority that came with age and experience.”

“It looks like someone dropped a stone again and again,” Sanal sounded uncertain, “They’re almost round and don’t split unless…”

She tilted her head, looking at the tracks from a different angle, “No, that has to be the front, it digs in there and the way the dirt kicks up…”

Of course Sanal would notice things like that, she was an excellent tracker, an accomplished hunter in her own right, though she didn’t go out as often anymore thanks to needing to care for Kiffan. When their son was older Thuna was certain that Sanal would teach him to hunt, but that was still a ways off.

“Do they walk backwards?” Sanal demanded, seemingly offended at the strange tracks, “Is this where their toes are?”

Thuna had seen those tracks herself when she was young and plenty of times since then and had been similarly confused by the strangeness of them.

“No, they walk forwards and only have one toe and one brittle nail on each foot,” Mirrith said, pointing at different parts of the track as she spoke, “The nail is on the bottom, that curve right there is where it dug in.”

Thuna knew all about the strange creatures the strange ones rode. When she was little and her mother had shown her a wide way, even letting her walk along it once she was sure it was safe, she had found a strange curving thing, brown and flaking like an old stick, but too hard for her to break. Mirrith had examined the thing and determined that it was a broken nail from one of the creatures the strange ones rode.

She’d never seen one of those creatures before, though she’d seen their tracks plenty of times along wide ways, and found impossibly long hairs snagged in brushes, left behind by those creatures.

“You’ve seen them?” Sanal asked excitedly.

“How big are they? Taller than mommy Thuna?” Kiffan asked at the same time, having already learned from Sanal to judge a creature’s size by the depth or its tracks and the length of its stride.

“Yes and almost,” Mirrith laughed, “I’ve seen them many times and when they hold their heads up they’re nearly as tall as a moose, but much heavier. Big enough that the strange ones ride them.”

It was a story that everyone knew, but Sanal was from the deep woods and therefor suspicious of the stories told about the strange ones. She let out a huff and looked almost like she might challenge Mirrith on that until she saw the way that Kiffan was looking down at the track with rapt attention.

“They’re not just bigger than moose,” Thuna added with a smile, “They don’t have antlers. Instead they have long, hairy tails.”

She spread out her hands as she spoke.

“That’s how long their tails are?” Sanal sounded skeptical.

Kiffan laughed, “They must brush the ground when they walk.”

“With some of them they do,” Mirrith said sagely.

“The fur of their tails is that long,” Thuna smiled, enjoying her part in this story.

Sanal shook her head at the thought of anything having such long fur while Kiffan looked back and forth between Thuna and the tracks left on the wide way.

“You’ve seen them,” Sanal repeated, taking a few steps forward, parallel to the wide way to better see the tracks, adjusting her stride to try and match that of the creature as she tried to make sense of it.

“I have,” Mirrith smiled, “In fact the first time was a place not too far from here. There’s a stream not far from here and back when I was a young girl I was passing through the area. I was in a hurry and not paying much attention.”

Thuna laughed, for this was a story she knew well, “Tell them why you weren’t paying much attention mother.”

Mirrith let out a chuckle, “That’s your favorite part of the story, isn’t it, that I had come to this territory looking for adventure and had been invited by the matriarch of the area to join her family?”

“No,” Thuna smiled slyly, “It’s why you were in a hurry and why you’ve had to tell this story so many times that’s my favorite part.”

“That’s at the end of it,” Mirrith huffed good naturedly, “I’ll tell that part when I get there, but at the start what matters was that I wasn’t as careful as I should have been. You know how moose can sneak despite being so large and ungainly? I didn’t even see the strange ones or their creatures until I heard a sound like a rock being dropped onto another rock. I looked up and there they were.”

Thuna listened as her mother told the story. She did love it dearly, even if there were times when she didn’t approve of her mother’s adventurous nature, and it fit her mother so well, that on the day she had been invited by the matriarch to meet her daughter, a woman that would eventually become Mirrith’s mate and, in time, Thuna’s other mother, that she had an encounter with strange ones.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for requesting this. It's such a beautiful, moving song, a fitting tribute to that most famous Bigfoot we know, yet know so little about.


End file.
